In April 1992, China's National People's Congress
(npc) formally approved the "Resolution on theConstruction of the Yangtze
River Three Gorges Project," marking the conclusion of decades of controversy
within

the Chinese leadership in favor of supporters of
the world's biggest-ever river dam project. Despite strenuous

government attempts to muzzle the debate, almost
one-third of the normally compliant npc delegates, in an

unprecedented display of legislative dissent, either
abstained or cast opposition votes. The following year, a pilot

project for the resettlement of an estimated 1.1
to 1.6 million inhabitants of the proposed 600-kilometer-long

reservoir area drew to a close and, in early 1994,
the full resettlement program began in earnest. By mid-year,

excavation and preparation of the dam's foundations
were underway at Sandouping, the chosen dam site just

downstream of the world-famous Three Gorges scenic
area; in December, Premier Li Peng formally declared the

project open. The Chinese government has offered
overseas manufacturers US$3 billion worth of machinery and

equipment contracts and will reportedly seek an
additional US$5 billion or so in overseas funding for the project.

International tendering has already begun for a
preliminary range of dam-related construction contracts. A showcase

for China's "opening and reform" policy, the dam
is a model for how lack of transparency and debate, authoritarian